Did link to the chief stifle probe?

No one came to the door at 110 Old Stone School Road in Sutton when Mary Finacom arrived to drive her son to a doctor’s appointment.

Eighteen-year-old John Finacom had spent the night at a friend’s house, but several knocks at the door that summer morning in 2011 went unanswered. So Mrs. Finacom walked into the house, where she found her son’s friend and his girlfriend asleep in bed. John was lying on his stomach on the floor; when she tried to wake him, the teen was stiff and cold to his mother’s touch. His mouth was caked with vomit. Sobbing and frantic, she called 911.

Two months later, a medical examiner would determine that John Finacom died of acute opiate and ethanol intoxication — an accidental overdose of drugs and alcohol. And while the young man’s death has devastated his parents, they’re also frustrated by what they call an insufficient police investigation that failed to address their many questions and concerns.

The Finacoms believe they know the reason for the shoddy probe — their son died at the home of Pamela Sargent, the sister of Sutton Police Chief Dennis Towle.

“Everyone is protecting the police chief’s family,” claimed John’s father, Tom Finacom. “My son was responsible for what happened, but there were others responsible as well.”

Specifically, the Finacoms point to police reports that confirm their underage son had been drinking alcohol and smoking pot for hours with Pamela Sargent’s 17-year-old son and his girlfriend in the Sargent’s home, that two pot plants were found in the house, and that an empty prescription bottle with the label removed was found near their son’s body. Toxicology tests for the presence of oxycodone in the teen’s system were “presumptive positive,” according to the autopsy report.

No one has been charged in connection with John’s death. Last February, the Finacoms and their lawyer met with First Assistant District Attorney Daniel Bennett to ask the following questions: Were the elder Sargents home on the evening of Aug. 31, 2011, when the three underaged teens were drinking? Where did the alcohol and opiates come from? Did anyone else come and go from the home that night? Why was no one charged with cultivating marijuana?

They said Bennett couldn’t answer any of their questions, so their lawyer asked for a judicial inquest, a request that was denied.

In interviews yesterday, both Chief Towle and District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. strongly denied that the case was handled differently because of the chief’s sister. Both men said the death was a tragedy, but that it was a clear instance of an accidental drug and alcohol overdose. They indicated that the two marijuana plants had a street value of less than $100 and were irrelevant to John’s death.

Early said that his office referred the case to another district attorney’s office after the Finacom’s lawyer, Michael Cashman, accused Early’s office of being unable to conduct an unbiased probe. That office declined to accept the case. Cashman also reached out to the attorney general’s office, which likewise declined the case. Early said his office handles some 30 unattended deaths a month.

In a frank interview yesterday, Chief Towle said that he arrived on the scene after hearing about the 911 call from a Sutton dispatcher. He said he had an angry exchange with his nephew and that he “assumed” the pot plants, now in the Sutton P.D.’s evidence locker, belonged to him. Towle also noted that state police handled the investigation. More than a year ago, Trooper Gerard A. O’Malley requested that the case be considered closed.

“Had this event repeated itself tomorrow, I would suggest the same course of action be taken,” Chief Towle said. “A kid is dead but there’s no coverup. There isn’t a worse thing you can do to me than question my integrity. I would never in any way, shape or form cover this up.”

According to Trooper O’Malley’s report, John’s mother told police at the scene that her son had a drinking problem. The teen had a drunken driving case pending at the time of his death, and had been cited with a civil complaint for possession of marijuana. John had been drinking vodka from a water bottle that evening, according to police reports.

Tom Finacom wants the case reopened. He said he recently learned that the Sargents acknowledged that they had been home the night John died, and that parents have been charged with providing alcohol to minors in cases far less serious.

“Nothing happened to this family, not even a slap on the wrist,” he said. “My son is dead, and I have the right to have my questions answered.”

Chief Towle met with Tom Finacom last week, and said he would welcome any further inquiry.

“A young man died in his sleep, and it’s a tragedy,” the chief said. “I hope any information will in some way help the Finacoms deal with this.”